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Facebook wants to get young kids hooked on social media, and we need your help to stop them.
In December, Facebook rolled out Messenger Kids, the first major social media app for children under 13. Today, CCFC sent Facebook a letter signed by more than 100 leading experts and advocates detailing how Messenger Kids will undermine children’s healthy development.
Will you join us in telling Facebook to scrap the app?
Facebook Messenger Kids has no lower age... Read more...

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering an important bill to protect children from unfair digital marketing, and you can help.
In January, the Trump administration rolled back common sense federal regulations protecting the privacy of children and families using the internet. Thankfully, lawmakers in Massachusetts are poised to put protections back in place in our state law. S.2062, presented by Senator Cynthia Creem, will prevent Internet Service Providers from collecting,... Read more...

We’re excited to share our new resource to help parents protect their children’s privacy!
Today’s schools are more connected than ever: most education records are stored digitally, and students and staff use apps and websites for daily instruction, homework, and administrative tasks. These apps, websites, and digital storage vendors collect a wide variety of data about students, including kids’ names, birth dates, internet browsing histories, grades, test scores,...Read more...

VICTORY: On October 4, Mattel announced that they were canceling the release of Aristotle. Thank you to the thousands of parents, caregivers, and experts who spoke out in support of kids' privacy and wellbeing! We commend Mattel for doing the right thing and putting kids first. ---------------------------------------------------------------
In October 2017, U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) asked Mattel how it intends to... Read more...

Michigan Senate Bill 953 would allow public school zoning to be included in "unzoned commercial or industrial areas." This would allow digital billboards like the one pictured here to go up on public school property, subjecting vulnerable children to bright commercial advertising. The bill has passed and is on the way to Governor Snyder’s desk for consideration. Sign our petition to protect children from this bad idea.
Marketing does not belong on school grounds, where kids can’t turn it off... Read more...

Each year, the Toy Industry Association gathers to present its TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Awards. In honor of the industry that has led the way in commercializing childhood, CCFC will present its TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the Worst Toy of the Year.
From thousands of toys that stifle creativity, lionize brands, and promote screen-based entertainment at the expense of children’s play, CCFC and our partners have selected six exceptional finalists. Who will win... Read more...

We need your help to protect children from a wave of corporate marketing at the heart of the Pokemon GO craze.
Pokemon GO, produced by Niantic, Inc., is a location-based augmented reality game, where players visit specific real world places to capture, battle, and train virtual creatures. Niantic touts how Pokemon GO encourages players to "Get Up, Get Out, and Explore," and the news is filled with stories of strangers bonding while playing the game.
But Niantic has another form of meet-ups in... Read more...

Update 1/9/17: Unfortunately, the NPS has ignored the voices of the public, and has quietly approved Director's Order 21, allowing greater corporate presence and influence in our National Parks. Read more >
We need your help to stop an incursion of corporate marketing into a most unlikely place: our national parks.
A proposal currently being considered by the National Park Service will remove rules requiring that parks remain free of commercialism. The new policies direct... Read more...

If someone offered you a dollar a year to advertise to your child, potentially putting your child’s safety in jeopardy, would you do it? Of course not. Yet that’s what many school districts are doing by placing ads on the exterior of their school buses.
CCFC members have helped defeat legislation that would allow advertising on school buses in states around the country. Currently, only ten states—Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, and... Read more...

What are McTeacher’s Nights?
Events McDonald’s calls “McTeacher’s Nights” are part of a comprehensive marketing strategy McDonald’s has developed to target children wherever they are, including in schools. On McTeacher’s Nights, McDonald’s enlists teachers as brand ambassadors to sell the corporation’s junk food to students and students’ families. At the events, McDonald’s invites teachers and school administrators to “work” behind McDonald’s store counters, wear branded... Read more...

From Our Blog

1/30/2018  Adding to a growing chorus demanding that tech companies act more responsibly, a coalition of more than 100 public health advocates today called on Facebook to pull the plug on Messenger Kids, the first major social platform designed specifically... Read more...